Like something out of Terminator 2, researchers are developing
techniques for warfare of the future to create materials that self-assemble or alter their shape,
perform a function and then disassemble themselves. These capabilities
offer the possibility for morphing aircraft and ground vehicles,
uniforms that can alter themselves in any climate, and “soft” robots
that flow like mercury through small openings to enter caves and bunker
complexes.

It's official: robotics scientists are now just daring the things to
kill us. An Aberdeen University have built a robot programmed to
fulfill one objective no matter what, to evolve in order to do so, and
to make use of extra materials when they're available. We're assuming
the only reason they didn't call it "Terminator" is because they don't
have enough to kill all the MGM lawyers. Yet.

German scientists are designing robots to target orbiting communications scientists, and just this once Bond won't kill them. In fact, if he doesn't want communications problems which make Die Hard With A Vengeance look like four-bar reception they'll stay the hell out of their way.

A lone group of Swiss scientists have been using scattered LEDs, neural circuity, and an army of miniature robots to explore the very basis of good and evil. No, you aren't reading the back cover of a DVD in the "one dollar each, please get this trash out of our store" bin of your local blockbuster -this research is very real and very, very awesome.

Those of you who view Terminator 2 as "survival training" can wind your clockwork "Countdown to Machine War" alarms forward a few years - the first robotic outpost has been assembled, and it's conveniently located in the last place humans will be able to get to it. A team of astronomically-inclined scientists, who will likely be tried for treason if we can spare a few able bodies from the anti-robot perimeters, have erected a fully automated robotic station in Antarctica.

Scientists from Durham University plan to use robots in an
expedition to study the growth of underwater volcanoes. Sailing on
Britain’s Royal Research Ship James Cook, an international team of 12
scientists will depart from Ponta Delgada, San Miguel, in the Azores,
on May 23.

Robots with flies' eyes could take advantage of the insect’s vision system to better locate the edges and boundaries of objects. This ability could help robots perform a variety of tasks more quickly and accurately than if they were using traditional sensors enhancing unmanned vehicles, guided missiles, and high-speed industrial inspection robots to locate tiny, moving objects with high precision.

Apparently upset by the total lack of giant space robots attacking Earth, NASA have decided to build their own. "Dextre" (pronounced "Dexter"), a ten meter wide remote-controlled megabot, will be attached to the side of the International Space Station over the next fortnight. The robot will be taken up in pieces next Tuesday then assembled over three spacewalks, in a job that makes even the most expensive Perfect Grade Gundam kit look snapping two Lego blocks together.

One of the world’s most popular inventor and futurist, Raymond Kurzweil, has been a pioneer of so many fields it is not worth mentioning. He has foreseen a future for us that makes me wake up with a cold sweat; nightmares of robotic overlords still roaming through my mind. According to Kurzweil, one of 18 influential world thinkers chosen to identify the greatest challenges mankind will face in the 21st century, by 2029 we will see robots achieve human level artificial intelligence.